Thank you, iDevGames

Some while ago I was a member of this forum - though I could be found more frequently in the IRC channel. At the time I was but a high school student hell bent on learning to program video games, making use of any resources I could get my hands on. These included books, papers, web pages - and iDevGames.

Though I was determined to learn I was also stubborn, and did not always listen attentively to the (likely) sage advice this community offered. My eagerness to see finished results robbed me of patience and blinded me to the benefits of a proper learning process. To all those whom I pestered in the IRC channel I am simultaneously apologetic and grateful.

Despite the impatient, bumbling path I pursued, I did eventually learn a set of highly valuable computer skills. It is as a consequence of these abilities that I - now a university student - recently secured my first real game programming position against very competitive odds.

Though I used many resources to achieve my current relative success, none was more inspirational or forbearing than the iDevGames community. For this I would like to offer my most sincere gratitude. There is no guarantee I would have stuck with my programming pastime had I not received the encouragement that you offered.

In the interest of preserving this excellent resource for the many others who might need it, I am prepared to offer a modest donation of $200 CAD. Admittedly, I am not familiar with the hosting costs of an enterprise the size of iDevGames. All the same, I am convinced that even a small contribution will help, and I am happy to do so.

It is not strictly clear to whom this contribution ought to be directed. Apparently iDevGames has undergone a change of ownership since I last stopped by. If an admin or moderator could direct me to the appropriate PayPal form the process could be expedited.

Once again, I offer my sincere thanks to all those who were of assistance to me during my (ongoing) learning process.

Thank you, iDevGames.

netcheck

PS: I frequented the IRC room under a variety of pseudonyms. Most chosen solely for their perceived entertainment value. I was most frequently identified as GarethC.

Congrats and welcome back! Planning to stick around at all? I know I sometimes go through phases of more and less activity, I always get pulled back somehow. Where did you get hired and what's your job going to be, if we can ask? As for the donation information, I am not sure what the official account, etc. is right now, wait for a response from Seth for that information I'd say.
Alex

Gareth! You Saskatchen devil you! Congrats on the job! I had actually wondered where you disappeared to.

Your offer to donate is very generous. iDG runs on the same server as as Araelium.com so there really aren't any distinct costs, so instead it would go to future cash/gift card/etc prizes during uDG or maybe some other contests.

(May 2, 2011 07:40 PM)SethWillits Wrote: Your offer to donate is very generous. iDG runs on the same server as as Araelium.com so there really aren't any distinct costs, so instead it would go to future cash/gift card/etc prizes during uDG or maybe some other contests.

That's great too. How should I go about donating, then? Speaking of which, are there any uDG/iDG events coming up soon?

Well, I was planning on doing a shorter contest before uDG, but it's getting late enough in the year we'll probably just do uDG. Which will require help from people. iDG still has no "staff" except little old me.

[Off Topic]... and the few of us old dusty moderators who pop in from time to time to straighten out a few spammers and misplaced posts. There hasn't been a lot of activity here lately, according to my "View New Posts" link, which doesn't seem to work anymore, except for posts within the last few minutes or something. Makes it very difficult to keep up if I can't see the new activity other than only what was posted today.

[On Topic] Congrats netcheck! Always great to see someone benefiting from the community.

I never hang out on IRC so I have no idea what happens in that other unseen and unarchived dimension of iDG. Great that it helped you out though!

(May 6, 2011 11:29 AM)Minalien Wrote: You should start hanging out on IRC, Jake. It's full of fun stuff like Cookie and I trading quips about each other's programming platforms, toolsets, and libraries. <3

Heh... Sounds like fun...

Thanks for the invitation, but honestly, the last time I did IRC was like 1995 (or something ancient like that). I made a decision to avoid it because it caused a lot of problems concentrating on college homework.

Maybe one of these days I'll sign up for the heck of it, show up drunk and yell at the iDG kids to get off my lawn!